Keying device



Feb. 10, 1953 w. F. JONES KEYING DEVICE Filed March 1'7, 1950 2] mmMLLJAM F JONES Patented Feb. 10, 1953 KEYIN G DEVICE William F. Jones,Wethersfield, Conn., assignor to Veeder-Root Incorporated, Hartford,Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application March 17, 1950, SerialNo. 150,327 3 Claims. (Cl. 287-52) This invention relates toimprovements in keying devices and more particularly to a keying deviceoperable to lock a power transmitting member to a drive shaft, forexample, so as to prevent rotation between the two.

The object of the present invention i to provide a keying device havingmeans capable of engaging and preferably scoring a shaft incident tobeing disposed between such shaft and a member to be locked againstrotation relative to said shaft, the keying device also incidentallybeing locked to said member so as to prevent rotation between saidmember and keying means.

It is another object of the invention to provide a keying means whichmay be inexpensively formed from resilient strip metal by one or moresimple punch press operations, said keying means being providedincidentally to the forming thereof with. means for lockingly engagingboth a shaft and a member to be keyed thereto by said means.

Details of the foregoing objects and of the invention, as well as otherobjects thereof, are set forth in the following specification andillustrated in t e accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view through a shaft and a member keyedthereto by means embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a lon itudinal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a keying means embodying the presentinvention. said means being shown in contact with a fragmentary portionof a shaft. illustrated in dot and dash lines.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the keying means illustrated in Fig. 3.

Referring to the dra ing, in which like numerals are used to indicatelike parts illustrated therein, an exemplary shaft I is shown which maybe any kind of a cylindrical shaft used for transmitting power orotherwise. In accordance with the present invention, the shaft may beformed from any conventional material such as steel and used fortransmitting power in various kinds of machinery such, for example, as aloom.

' Surrounding such shaft is any exemplary power transmitting member suchas a bi-partite worm I2. The parts 14 and iii of the worm l2 may besecured to ether by an suitable means such as a pair of bolts l8,extending through and between said'parts for purposes of securing themtogether in operative position around the shaft H), as clearlyillustrated in Fig. 1.

In the exemplary embodiment of worm l2 illustrated herein, each of theparts M and l 5 are provided with axially extending semi-circularcavities 20 adjacent the shaft ID. The parts l4 and i6 are also providedwith axially aligned recesses 22 which preferably closely conform to theexterior surface of the shaft It) so as to prevent any appreciable playbetween the worm I2 and the shaft H1. The bi-partite construction of theworm permits the attachment thereof to said shaft without requiring, forexample, the removal of the shaft from a machine for purpose ofattaching the worm thereto, such as under circumstances where the wormis to be attached to the shaft between two bearings supporting theshaft.

The present invention contemplates the use of a plurality of keyingdevices 24 which are disposed within the cavities 20 in the parts l4 andI6 of the worm l2, said cavities cooperating to form an annular recessaround the shaft I0. The keying device 24 are preferably formed from afiat strip of any suitable resilient material such as spring steel. I

Each of the keying devices 24 is provided along opposite side edgesthereof with a plurality of inwardly extending slots 26 which arepreferably spaced evenly from each other along such edges to providealong the side edges of the devices a plurality of spaced, substantiallyrectangular fingers 28, extending outwardly from said keying devices.The outer ends of the fingers 28- are twisted s bstantially about theaxes thereof so as to provide a plurality of sharp corners 30 capable ofengaging the surface of a shaft I 0 when forced into enga ementtherewith, thereb keying the devices 24 against rotation relative to theshaft Hi. The keying devices may be simply and inexpen ively formed byone or more punch press operations, for example, and. either before orafter such formation, the devices are heat treated to render themresilient and hard so as to be capable of at least slightly scoring theshaft l0 when pressed radially into contact with the shaft or slidablymoved relative thereto.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention the keying devices 24 arebent or curved longitudinally so as to substantially conform to thecurvat re of the exterior sur a e of the shaft In, as clearly shown inFig. 3. Since t e ke ing devices are flexible, they can readily andevenly be moved into engagement with the outer surface of the shaft I0.It will also be noted from Figures 3 and 4, particularly, that, in thepreferred embodiment of the invention. the fingers 28 are twisted insuch manner that the corners 30 thereof are displaced a substantiallygreater distance from the concave surface of the devices 24 than theopposite corners of the fingers are displaced from the convex surface ofthe devices 24.

It will also be noted from Fig. 3 that some of the fingers along each ofthe side edges of the devices 24 are twisted in one direction while theother fingers on said edges are twisted in an opposite direction, as canbe clearly seen from Figures l and 3. Thus, regardless of whichdirection the shaft it is rotated, substantially half of the fingers onthe keying devices will extend toward the outer surface of the shaft Illso as to effectively bite into said surface as the rotary movement ofthe shaft imposes thrust against said fingers when the keying devicesare connected to the worm ['2 by means to be described.

figures.

Th sharp corners 30 of the fingers 28 also preferably initially extendradially inward from the concave surface of the keying devices 24 adistance slightly greater than the distance bei tween the base of thecavities 20 and the exterior of the shaft l0. Thus, when the keyingdevices 24 are disposed within cavities 20 of the parts l4 and 16 of theworm l2, and the parts [4 and 16 are placed around the shaft l andconnected together by the bolts [8, the tightening of the parts l4 andI6 into operative position will cause the keying devices to closelyconform to the shaft I0, whereby the sharp corners 30 of the fingers 28of said devices will substantially evenly engage and somewhat score theouter surface of the shaft I0, the outer ends of said fingers beingsomewhat twisted backward toward the plane of the strip portions of thekeying devices 24. The corners of the fingers 28 opposite the sharpcorners 30 may also be somewhat embedded intothe base surfaces of thecavities 20 in the worm I2, especially if the parts l4 and 16 of theworm I2 are formed from such material as synthetic resin or the like, asillustrated in the accompanying drawing. The base surface of thecavities 20 will ,also firmly back up the convex surface of the keyingdevices 24 when said parts of the worm are bolted firmly into operativeposition about the shaft [0, as described above. Thus, fingers 28 areplaced under torsional tension and thereby effect efiicient scoringengagement between the sharp corners 30 of the fingers and the shaft ID.

To positively insure against any noticeable rotatable movement betweenthe keying devices 24 and the worm l2, parts l4 and 16 of the worm areeach preferably provided with locking recesses 32 which extend radiallyinto said parts from the base surfaces of the cavities 20 therein. Thelocking recesses 32 are capable of receiving one or more ears 34 whichare bent to extend radially outward from the opposite edges of the keyindevices 24 intermediately of the ends thereof so as to project radiallyfrom the convex surface of the said devices, as clearly shown in all ofthe In the initial formation of the devices, the ears34 may be blankedout similarly to fingers 28. The side walls of the cavities 32preferably closely engage opposite side edges of the ears 34, as shownin Fig. 1. It will thus be seen that the cars 34 cooperate with thelocking recesses 32 in such a manner as to prevent rotatable movementbetween the keying devices 24 and the worm l2 and, since the engagementof the fingers 28 with the shaft [0 will prevent rotatable movementbetween the keying devices 24 and the shaft, it will be seen that theworm I2 will be keyed to the shaft l0.

Whil the present illustration shows only a single keying device in eachpart of the worm l2, it will readily be seen that more than one of suchkeying devices may be used in each part of the worm, as desired ornecessary. Further, while the worm has been illustrated as beingbipartite to facilitate the assembly thereof relative to the shaft, itwill also be understood that the keying devices comprising the presentinvention may also be used with a unitary worm, or other form of powertransmitting means, simply by inserting keying devices within a suitableannular cavity within the worm and then sliding the worm onto a shaftfrom one end thereof. During such assembly of the worm and shaft, thecorners 33 of the fingers of the keying devices will longitudinallyscore the shaft and thereby effectively prevent rotation between theworm and shaft.

It will thus be seen from the foregoing that the present inventionprovides means for keying the worm or other form of power transmittingdevice to a shaft, which means may be uniformly, quickly andinexpensively formed with a minimum of manufacturing operations, yetprovide effective locking or keying means capable of long life and evenrepeated use. Further, said keying devices are of such nature that theyrequire no special tools or skilled operators to effect installationthereof.

While the invention has been illustrated and. described in its preferredembodiment and has included certain details, it should be understoodthat the invention is not to be limited to the precise details hereinillustrated and described since the same may be carried out in otherways, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

.1 claim as my invention:

1. A device for keying a member to a cylindrical shaft and comprising aresilient strip of fiat materia1 for disposition about the shaft betweenthe shaft and member having along each side edge thereof a row offingers projecting outward therefrom longitudinally of the shaft, theends of said fingers being twisted substantially axially thereof toprovide a plurality of sharp projections displaced from the plane ofsaid strip and engageable in scoring relationship with said shaft wheninserted between said shaft and member, and means on said stripinterengageable with said member to lock said strip against rotatablemovement relative thereto.

2. A device for keying a member to a cylindrical shaft and comprising aresilient strip of material having along each side edge a row of fingersprojecting outward from said strip, said fingers being twistedsubstantially axially thereof, some in one direction and the others inthe opposite direction to provide a plurality of sharp projectionsdisplaced from the plane of said strip and engageab-le inscoringrelationship with said shaft when inserted between said shaft andmember, and locking means projecting from said strip and interengageablewith said member to lock said strip against rotatable movement relativethereto.

3. A device for keying a member to a cylindrical shaft and comprising aresilient strip of flat material curved longitudinally and having alongeach side edge thereof a row of fingers projecting from said strip, saidfingers being twisted about the axes thereof to provide a plurality ofsharp corners displaced from the concave surface of said strip andengageable in scoring relationship with said shaft when said strip isinserted between said shaft and member, and an ear bent radially outwardfrom each side edge of said strip intermediately of the ends thereof andprojecting from the convex surface thereof, said ears being receivablewithin a suitable recess within said member to lock said strip againstrotatable movement relative thereto.

WILLIAM F. JONES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 832,015 Frazee Sept. 25, 19061,896,650 Trotter Feb. 7, 1933 2,074,625 Spaunberry Mar. 23, 19372,322,138 Jenny June 15, 1943

